Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: explore2010January20

I'm just not finding much "stuff" to photograph these days, so will post a different photo I took back in November of this beautiful Red Panda at the Calgary Zoo. These animals are so hard to photograph, as they are constantly on the move in their enclosure, LOL. "Every time a red panda is born, and particularly every time the cub is raised by its mother, it's an important achievement, because the mortality rate for red panda cubs is as high as 74 per cent. Since 1994, nine red cub pandas have been born at the Calgary Zoo. "It is important to continue to support conservation and protection of red pandas so that some day we see a natural increase in their populations," said Tim Sinclair-Smith, curator of the zoo's Eurasia section. "There is still a long way to go to this end, but this new birth will have a positive impact on captive population growth and genetic diversity of the species." It's estimated there are fewer than 10,000 mature red pandas in the world. They're classified as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List." From CBC News, Calgary.

A little water droplet on the petal of a miniature Daffodil, taken maybe an hour and a half ago in my kitchen. I can see my two cacti upside down at the bottom of the droplet, each with a small orange flower.

Early August last year, we saw this mushroom while botanizing the Bentz Lake Natural Area, north west of the city. It really was a beautiful specimen, with lovely cap colour and white stalk. We had yet another gorgeous, mild day today, with lots of sunshine - unfortunately, had to spend the afternoon indoors for my volunteer shift : ) I did get out for a walk yesterday morning, at Carburn Park. I really need to get back into the habit of walking. This winter has been pretty brutal and, most of the time, I just couldn't face all the snow and bitterly cold temperatures. Consequently, it is now extremely painful to walk. Once spring arrives, I will be back to doing more walks, but it will be even more painful if I don't start getting out more during the remaining winter months. I think snow is in our forecast for tonight.